2012: A year of elections

Updated 1959 GMT (0359 HKT) November 6, 2012

2012: A year of elections12 photos

2012: A year of elections – It's not just the United States: At the start of the year, CNN's Fareed Zakaria billed 2012 as "the year of elections." Dozens of countries would be electing new leadership, including four of the five U.N. Security Council members. Click through the gallery to see some of the more high-profile elections and their outcomes.

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2012: A year of elections12 photos

2012: A year of elections – At the beginning of the year, Taiwan re-elected President Ma Ying-jeou, a staunch advocate of the "1992 Consensus" that has led to an unprecedented warming of ties between Taiwan and China.

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2012: A year of elections12 photos

2012: A year of elections – In March, Iran held parliamentary elections in the first public vote since 2009, when rigging accusations triggered mass street protests against President Ahmadinejad's re-election. This time, Ahmadinejad lost ground in his power struggle with Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. His sister was also defeated.

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2012: A year of elections12 photos

2012: A year of elections – Vladimir Putin won back the presidency of Russia, picking up where he left off in 2008, when he stepped down because of a two-term limit. International observers and opposition leaders blasted the election, however, alleging fraud and saying the outcome was never in doubt.

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2012: A year of elections12 photos

2012: A year of elections – Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate imprisoned for years in Myanmar, was elected to her country's parliament in April. Her political party also won nearly all of the seats contested -- an encouraging sign for a young democracy after decades of military rule.

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2012: A year of elections12 photos

2012: A year of elections – The ruling Saenuri (or New Frontier) Party held onto parliament in South Korea, boosting the presidential hopes of its leader, Park Geun-hye. South Korea picks a new president in December, and Park, if she is elected, would be the country's first-ever female president.

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2012: A year of elections12 photos

2012: A year of elections – In France, Francois Hollande defeated President Nicolas Sarkozy, signaling a shift to the left as the country and Europe fight to dig out of a weak economy. Hollande became the nation's first left-wing president since Francois Mitterrand in 1995. Sarkozy joined half a dozen leaders who were swept from office during the eurozone crisis.

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2012: A year of elections12 photos

2012: A year of elections – Violent protests erupted in Greece after the country introduced harsh austerity measures in return for a government bailout. It took two elections this summer to form a coalition government that must lift the country from its crippling debt.

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2012: A year of elections12 photos

2012: A year of elections – After months of military rule following the resignation of President Hosni Mubarak, Egypt elected Mohamed Morsy, a U.S.-educated Islamist who led the political wing of the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's largest opposition group. Thousands gathered in Cairo's Tahrir Square to celebrate Morsy's victory, but he inherited a variety of challenges.

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2012: A year of elections12 photos

2012: A year of elections – Mexico elected Enrique Pena Nieto in July to succeed current President Felipe Calderon, whose six-year term ends this year. Pena Nieto was once governor of Mexico's most populous state, and his party opposes Calderon's. He has called for a "new debate" on the war against drug trafficking.

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2012: A year of elections12 photos

2012: A year of elections – Parliamentary elections were held in Libya this summer, the first since Moammar Gadhafi was removed from power. Mahmoud Jibril, interim prime minister during the revolution, told CNN it is vital for Islamists, liberals and secularists to "sit around one table" and restore order to a country where many militias continue to operate.

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2012: A year of elections12 photos

2012: A year of elections – Since Hugo Chavez was first elected as president of Venezuela in 1999, he has withstood mass protests, a coup attempt, a recall referendum and two surgeries for cancer. But he was still able to defeat Henrique Capriles Radonski in October, winning a six-year-term and vowing to press forward with his socialist reforms.